Happy Friday, Believers! I come with NEWS.


Firstly, Cultist is part of a big ol' narrative shindig on Steam this weekend! Look out for Ludonarracon on the front page of the store from 6PM BST / 10AM PDT today, running all the way through the weekend.

As part of LNC, we're going to be broadcasting our upcoming Priest DLC with the help of the delightful JimtheEternal and Systemchalk, both seasoned Cultist veterans who are able to

• play arguably the most horrible CS content Alexis has written to date
  
• not die immediately
  
• explain what's going on to people in chat at the same time

So tune in to them!

✨ Jim's on from 11AM PDT / 7PM BST
🌙 Systemchalk's live from 3PMish PDT / 11PMish BST

We're also going to be releasing a free demo of Cultist today, so now all your havering would-be cultist friends can try the game and see if they like it or not. Praise be to the Watchman, who'll get us all in the end.




Alexis and I are also being our big ol' goth selves and are on a live broadcast LNC panel on DEATH IN GAMES, along with the creators of The Stillness of the Wind and Little Red Lie. Find us on

📅 today!
⏰ 11.45 PDT / 7.45PM BST
💀 LNC broadcast + store page




If you missed our news last week, we've announced release dates for our upcoming DLC and a new Anthology Edition to mark Cultist's one year anniversary of sweet and fleeting life. There're more details in last week's sprint update, but the key points are:

📅 everything's launching on Thursday 30th May 2019, at 10AM PDT / 6PM BST

🐍 new stuff includes our Priest DLC, where you take on a long-awaited Knock ascension to become the Martyr of the Keys & also there are sneks

⚰️ also our Ghoul DLC, where a disgraced medium goes all Dorian Gray, hangs out in graveyards and develops gourmet, sepulchral tastes



Don't tell Alexis that's how I summarised his stories, and hope to see you in our LNC stream and/or on the 30th May! ♥

Hey everyone! Ever wished you could bring the apocalypse on the bus? Or murder your micromanaging boss without getting out of bed? Now - hooplah! - you can, as Cultist Simulator's live on the App Store and Google Play today!

For a week we're also offering a 30% off discount, so if you wanna bring your cult with you on the go, now's the time.




You can also read a little about us from the front page of the App Store, as we're part of a feature on 'cool' Brits doing cool things in games. Check it out, iOS people!



(Apologies to Google Play-ers. Apple do not make App Store pages readable online, to our eternal regret.)


Fiiiinally, you may have noticed that we now have a simplified Chinese version of Cultist's Steam store page, and we offer a simplified Chinese version of the whole game on iOS! (We're unfortunately not able to offer Chinese via Google Play until the Chinese government reopens applications for foreign games publishing.)

I know a lot of you have been waiting patiently for Chinese to hit, so this will either allow you to play now or at least show you that we're working hard on translating everything to a high standard for PC. I'll release an estimated release date for both Chinese and Russian on PC in the near future.

In the meantime, hope you enjoy! :)

I can't believe I'm writing this, but... Cultist Simulator's been nominated for not one, but


We're up for both Debut Game and Game Innovation and both Alexis and myself were practically sick yesterday when the nominations were announced.

Check out the full list of nominations here!



Thank you to all of you who took a chance on a weird indie game about a lady pulling off her own face. Cultist has been in active development since launch, and the feedback you've given us - along with the love you showed along the way - somehow got us to the point where we have to dress up fancy and go to a BAFTA Games awards show to find out if we win.

You are the best cult. <3 <3 <3

Now, more info shortly on mobile launch, localisation and other Weather Factory projects. Check out our roadmap if you're interested in what's next for Cultist, and we'll see you soon!

Hey believers! Just a quick update on where Cultist's heading over the next couple of months.




We announced yesterday that we're releasing an iOS and Android port of Cultist Simulator! We've not revealed the date of launch yet (though it's SOON), but in the near future you'll be able to manage your cults, murder your bosses and muster monstrous servants on your phone and/or tablet.

You can pre-register for a discounted price on Android phones below...



...and all you iOS users, sign up here to be kept in the loop with mobile news! You'll get the same discount as the Android peeps for a short while at launch.




You might have noticed a rather, er, placeholder-looking card called your 'Temporary HQ'. You couldn't do much with it and it wasn't much fun. Yesterday we updated the main branch with a few new cult headquarters, as well as tweaks to the way HQs work in-game.

The new HQs to look out for are:

• Rooms Behind a Bookshop
  
• House Violet
  
• the Opulent Townhouse
  
• the Heterodox Church
  
• the Candle-lit Mithraem
  
• a Darkened Warehouse

Our next release will be Franklin's Build, comprising two bits of paid DLC. These'll add new Legacies to the game (just like the Dancer DLC), will be similarly priced to the Dancer DLC, and are:

• the Priest Legacy, introducing a new Knock ascension
  
• the Ghoul Legacy, introducing a new Winter ascension

For the avoidance of doubt, Perpetual Edition owners get this DLC for free. We've not announced a release date for Franklin's Build yet, but both Priest and Ghoul will release at the same time. You can get a good idea of when to expect 'em by looking at http://weatherfactory.biz/cultist-simulators-post-launch-roadmap/.

It's finally here! Christopher's Build - comprising an advanced player-versus-demigod mode where you help a previous character ascend while muzzling (or murdering) one of four displeased immortals - is here! All 20,000 extra words of it.

It's free for all players, and you should see an update queued in Steam. It puts the 'cult' back into........... 'difficult'. A ha ha ha. Ha. :)




★ MAJOR VICTORIES: You achieved immortality? Well done. Now, the hard bit. Play as your own Apostle, executing a doomsday plan to make your immortal character something like a god. Pursue the path of Grail, Lantern or Forge. Assemble the Great Feast; open a door into light; or Bring the Dawn.

★ MOAR LORE: Delve even further into the rich lore of the Cultist Simulator world. What is the Dawnbreaker Device? Where is the flaw in the world to be found? What is the Third Mode of the Tricuspid Gate? Who are the avid, ancient, brilliant women who call themselves the Ligeians... and why are they helping you?

★ IMMORTAL ENEMIES: They’re here to prevent your greater ascension, and add challenge and replay value while they're at it. These powerful NPCs make Detectives and Rivals look like playground bullies. See your loved ones kidnapped; your finances shredded; your affairs exposed to the public; your dreams become a battleground. Confront them in person, if you dare.

If you haven't already, now might be a good time to refresh your memory of the basics with our Beginner's Guide to Cultist Simulator. Downloadable in lovely PDF form, here! <3




All you have to do to unlock this hideous New Game+ mode is beat the game. Achieving any standard victory will unlock three new Apostle Legacies, one each for Lantern, Forge and Grail.




We’ve also just released Cultist Simulator’s 15-track OST from the same delectable composer as Fallen London and Sunless Sea. It's £7.99 / $9.99, and you can find the store page here!

(Though if you'd like to buy it via more traditional means, you can find it on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Bandcamp and a host of other places... just search for 'Cultist Simulator' in your music store of choice.)


If you want to take a look at the new game+ before you dive in, Systemchalk is broadcasting the game now on our store page (and hopefully, with enough views, the front page of Steam too!). Just go to Cultist Simulator's store page to view - Alexis and myself will be in the chat too, so come ask us all your questions!

Happy 2019, Believers! In case you missed it, we recently announced a release date for our big update coming at the end of this month: new game plus with a load of new content will launch on Tuesday 22nd January at 11AM PDT / 7PM GMT.

It's free for all players, and will drop alongside our bootiful soundtrack (which is sadly not free, but only costs £7.99 / $9.99 and will haunt your dreams for life).

Full deets on our blog, but the highlights are...




Beating the game will unlock three new and nearly impossible Legacies. You'll play as the acolyte of your previous character, working to help them ascend to the House.

Unfortunately, the House can only hold so many demigods. There are a number of near-immortal Long who aren't, er, very happy about new blood among the ascended. They'll work against you, actively sabotaging your efforts, and perhaps attempting to snuff you out entirely.






There's a bunch of new content being introduced at the end of the month, so there'll be a host of new cards, Aspects and individuals to accompany you on your ill-advised descent into madness.

• Monthly design stream - we'll be hosting another live design session with Alexis Kennedy, on Thursday 17th January @ 4PM GMT (if you miss it, these design streams go up on our YouTube channel later).
  
  
• Launch-day Steam broadcast - Systemchalk, a good streamy friend of ours, will be streaming these impossible new Legacies when they release, live on our Steam page. If you're not quite sure whether hardcore mode's for you, come watch a Cultist master be, er, probably horribly killed.

See you on the 22nd, Beloveds!

Hey all, and merry merry Christmas! Just a quick update on what we've been up to, seeing as everyone is about to scatter to the winds like festive moles running for cover from beglittered hawks.

Full details on our blog, but the highlights are:




We do these every month, and this month's was all about ASCENSIONS: upcoming new, harder-than-ever-before ways to win the game by fighting off AN ACTUAL ADVERSARY LONG. Because Cultist was too easy before, obviously.




For the new, free content we're releasing at the end of January. These are but a select few of the new content and art you'll see in the game next year. We'll be announcing the release date shortly - stay tuned!




If you're not already, follow our Twitter to play the creepiest, festive-ist interactive fiction adventure next week when we run our inaugural OPALIA event.

More info on release dates, new content, localisation and something that's so secret I may not even mention it by name in the new year. Have a lovely new year's, all! ♥

The Expeditions update has spent a few weeks baking on the beta branch, and is now live on main.

The big change here is to reduce the amount of RNG in the midgame. Each expedition now has a set (and thematically consistent) set of rewards. This means *much* less grinding away at expeditions waiting for the ONE ITEM YOU STILL NEED FOR YOUR VICTORY to drop.

Exceptions: the last expedition in each area (Forsaken Reach, Kerisham, etc.) now give intentionally repeatable rewards, and will allow you to get rewards from earlier expeditions if a Rival snaffled that expedition.

There are also six new Expeditions with some significant snippets of lore (yes this is all a free update, I don't know what I was thinking).

All in all, this will make the game much more playable the first few times through, though less ultimately replayable.... but the Apostle legacies / Major Victories coming in January should provide a lot more playability.

More about those here: http://weatherfactory.biz/christophers-build/

Hullo folks

I normally just post beta patch notes on the patch thread, but this is significant enough that I wanted it on the front page.

One of the (IMO more justifiable) complaints I hear about CS is that the mid-game gets grindy. I've reworked how Expeditions operate to make it easier and quicker to get the treasures you want.

The effect of this kind of change is all about player experience not specific balance... so it may have unintended effects, and I'm very interested in your feedback.

This is on the gateofhorn branch now.

v2018.11.e.1:
- Major Expeditions rework to reduce midgame grind, including six new Expeditions. Expeditions now give fixed, more thematically suitable, and usually more impressive, rewards. Default expeditions give you a chance to scoop up books from any Expeditions consumed by Rivals, and also can be repeated to gain Ingredients. (Details of which items show up in which Expeditions may shuffle around further).
- Fixed a rare issue where it was still sometimes possible to put a stack of >1 card in a slot (if you swapped out one card of that type for a stack of identical cards)
- Fixed an even rarer issue where saving the game with two funds in unstarted Expedition slots would leave you with only 1 Funds on reloading.
- 30% of the time, failing to use a Favour to save a Follower would leave you under suspicion instead. This should no longer happen.
- Removed Bloodshed, for now.
- Reduced Fleeting Reminiscence duration to make it more Fleeting.

Hey all! I've a sprint update for ya. You can read the whole thing over on our blog, but the headline points are:




We spent a bunch of this sprint planning Cultist's future, and have updated our roadmap accordingly. We've also confirmed what's gonna be in the next big update, Christopher's Build, coming out in the second half of January 2019. Here's what it'll be!



Free updates:

• Apostle victories, which are three new 'tier 2' victories evolving the current Forge, Grail and Enlightenment victories. You'll only unlock these Apostle victories once you've won the game with one of the original three lore victories. Beware: Apostle victories are much harder than the basic victories, and will pit you against your very own Long nemesis...
  
• New Expeditions, fixing issues with mid-game grind and item collection, as well as adding in a few new places to definitely not send Followers out to die in. We're talking the well-stocked Key-Hunter's Garret, spooky Forman House with definitely not a ghost, and deeply unsettling mass at St Felix of Schuren...
  
• New HQs, partly replacing your current Temporary HQ, and partly making HQs more involved in the game.

Paid DLC:

• Cultist Simulator's OST: from the wonderful Mickymar Productions, nab the 15 remastered in-game tracks along with nice artwork + a world-leading Erhu master. Because obvs we needed that.

There're also some changes to our Church of Merch store (plain paper notebooks, cheaper/tracked shipping, new freebies). Check the update out, and watch out for Christopher in the new year!

Finally, if you haven't yet left us a Steam review, please do! I feature some of 'em on our Twitter, and they make a real difference to us devs. Fanx, beloveds! ♥